Hurricane Patricia: Biggest recorded in this hemisphere
Hurricane Patricia is hitting Mexico right now, and I've heard conflicting reports whether it's the strongest Hurricane measured or just the biggest in the hemisphere.
Either way, it's pretty bad. It blew up from a tropical storm to a cat 5 in record time, from the sound of it, there was a little bit of luck in that it didn't hit in the most populated areas, and the army's evacuated large numbers of people. It's down to cat 4 as of this writing, but that's still very dangerous, especially in an area not set up for Hurricanes. I don't know if anyone on my LJ knows anyone in the area, but if so, I hope they're safe and clear, this is a biggie.
*Edit*
Wow, Look at the map here in this article. I have never seen a hurricane so skillfully avoid cities and major towns before!
There's still going to be major flooding, but the wind destruction was almost completely avoided. Whew!
Either way, it's pretty bad. It blew up from a tropical storm to a cat 5 in record time, from the sound of it, there was a little bit of luck in that it didn't hit in the most populated areas, and the army's evacuated large numbers of people. It's down to cat 4 as of this writing, but that's still very dangerous, especially in an area not set up for Hurricanes. I don't know if anyone on my LJ knows anyone in the area, but if so, I hope they're safe and clear, this is a biggie.
*Edit*
Wow, Look at the map here in this article. I have never seen a hurricane so skillfully avoid cities and major towns before!
There's still going to be major flooding, but the wind destruction was almost completely avoided. Whew!